Patients, colleagues, and friends gathered at Judson Memorial Church on April 12 to remember the life and work of early HIV/AIDS trailblazer Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, who died in London in 2021 at the age of 88.
Sonnabend was a native of South Africa who grew up in what is now Zimbabwe before training in London and moving to New York City, where he was a medical researcher with a practice in Greenwich Village. He was known for sounding the alarm about what would become HIV/AIDS at a time when health authorities were slow to respond to it.
Prior to the AIDS crisis, Sonnabend was a volunteer at Gay Men’s Health Project in Sheridan Square. In 1983, Sonnabend teamed up with a friend, Dr. Mathilde Krim, and a patient, Michael Callen, to co-found the AIDS Medical Foundation, which later merged and became amFAR.
Gregg Gonsalves, an HIV/AIDS activist and associate professor of epidemiology at Yale, said Sonnabend “never gave up on you and never lied to you.” Gonsalves recalled a time when he brought his cousin to Sonnabend, and although his cousin later died, Sonnabend never stopped trying to help. Gonsalvez praised Sonnabend’s research, saying it led to discoveries that helped pave the way for drugs to support long-term survivors.
Speakers who delivered remarks throughout the afternoon included Ivy Kwan Arce, Sean Strub, Kyle Clifford, Rebecca Jordan-Young, Rebecca Pringle Smith, Jack Waters, Ash Kotak, and Miriam Lewis Sabin.
See some photos below:
